Lithuanian Radio and Television

MOTUZAS Alfredas, Vilnius

Hearing series of gun fire, I jumped into my car and hurried to the Radio and TV Center. Konarskio Street was filled with people, military vehicles, and soldiers. Soldiers were shooting around to scare the people. A lot of them shot right at the people. I realized that most of them were firing blanks. I saw a number of people cover their heads with their hands. On the temples of some people's faces you could see trickles of blood. They must have been injured by shrapnel.

There were buses parked in front of the building. In the middle of the street there were tanks, and soldiers were shooting. A frightened girl ran through the sol¬diers and said that her friend had been killed (or injured) there, and the soldiers had lifted her by the legs and thrown her by the wall. People rushed in that direction, but the soldiers blocked the way with their guns. The people stopped, but the girl lost her head and ran in that direction anyway.

Then one more armored vehicle arrived. Some young men and two young women stood in front of it, determined not to withdraw. When there were only a few meters left between them, the armored vehicle sped up. The men on the edge were able to jump to the side, and at the last moment the one in the middle jumped onto the vehicle, climbed over it, and jumped off the back. The armored vehicle suddenly stopped and jerked backwards, obviously to run the young man over. But, stumbling, he managed to escape. The soldiers opened fire again, and the expressions on their faces were horrible.

One soldier threw a smoke bomb into the people, but it didn't have much of an effect. The people still didn't withdraw. Then the soldier threw an explosive at the people nearest to him. The packet exploded in the hand of a young man, or maybe in the air right next to him. It tore up the palm of his hand. In no time the young man started running around and shouting. The people tried to help him, but couldn't control him for quite some time. He fell to the ground, tossing about and moaning... An ambulance was coming from the intersection but an armored vehicle blocked its way. People had to carry the injured man for quite a distance. Another tank appeared at the intersection of Žemaitės and Konarskio. Turning its barrel at Konarskio Street, it fired. The windows of nearby apartment building shattered. There were several such shots. They also fired at Žemaitės Street, where there weren't any people, and shattered the last of the windows that were still in tact.

I saw armored vehicles hit cars that were parked on the sidewalk and smash them in the true meaning of the word. The whole time a powerful searchlight was directed at the apartment houses and the people. I want to emphasize that the entire time, the people were as calm as they could be in such a situation. There wasn't panic, and nobody attacked the soldiers. When the tension increased they just shouted: “Lithuania! Lithuania!"